Everyone faces adversity… Whether it be the famous stories of Michael Jordan not getting picked in his high school basketball team to as simple as getting stuck at work for a few days and missing your training
We all face it and if you haven’t sadly you will at some point.
But if we all face challenges and barriers on our journey to our goals, how come some people are able to get through it and others crack under the pressure.
It comes down to whether or not an individual possesses the mental resiliency to overcome the adversity they face..
Whether they can get comfortable enough in their discomfort to be able to continue to take their next step forward.
The people that have this quality within them will grow through adversity and come out the other side the man (or woman) they need to be to achieve their goals…
I’ve always been a big believer in that this quality is trainable in the gym given the right programming and the right environment.
Often we hear of the childhood superstars, the natural talents set to take over the world in sports but after an injury or setback all of a sudden we never hear of them again. They often show a fixed mindset and a lack of resiliency.
Whereas we also hear the stories like Michael Jordan or surfer Mick Fanning who suffered family tragedy, survived a shark attack and also had a near career ending injury with a completely torn hamstring yet come back to win multiple world titles.
These guys no matter what believed that if they put in the effort and stuck it out through the tough times could reach their goals.
So how can we develop resiliency?
There’s various methods that people will go to but some of the simple ways that you can add into your training without changing much include:
- AMRAP Sets
- High rep squats or deadlifts (20 Rep Squats)
- Lactic Retention Training
AMRAP (as many reps as possible) sets are a great way to test how much you’re willing to push at the end of your regular sets. Simply complete your normal sets and reps with the last set going until failure or stopping 1 rep short.
Many great programs like Wendler 5/3/1 incorporate these as a means to test how much you have in the tank and gauge how much potential to increase in weight you have. These are particularly great with squats and deadlifts assuming you have good form under fatigue to test out how much discomfort you’re willing to go through. I remember many sessions of pushing final sets of squats into the 20+ rep range which as were moving onto really tests your toughness.
High rep squats and deadlifts or sometimes known as deep water training are a great way to test your physical capacity as well as your mental capacity. Using a weight you would only do for 10-12 reps aim to keep the bar on your back or in your hands until you reach 20 reps or have your buddy save you from failing.
I prefer to use a trap bar when doing these for deadlifts but have also often done conventional many times. My own current records for these are 23 reps at 130kg Back Squat and 16 reps at 180kg on Deadlifts.
Why 23 you might ask? Because I lost count and when I was at 18 Nath told me I still needed 5 more to get to 20, so moral of the story is make sure somebody is counting properly. That session had my whole body rocked and barely survived the comeback.
Lastly method for today is one I learnt off Cal Dietz the strength coach who popularised the Triphasic Training Method. Lactate retention training simply involves building up maximal lactate production in the muscle then forcing an isometric contraction on the muscle to stop it from clearing the lactate as quickly.
Practically this looks like a 30-45s shuttle sprint effort followed by a 30s isometric squat hold before a near full recovery. If you haven’t done this before your legs are going to sting unlike anything you’ve done before and it’s going to really test your desire to continue into the following rounds.
All in all there’s many important factors to success but it’s clear that being a mentally and emotionally resilient person is a necessity to face the challenges ahead of you and whilst most people train primarily for their physical development it’s important to utilise the powerful tool of training to touch on the mental side too.